Yes,visibility in FC2.0 is poor and reason for that is to high default settings for fogparam values...It is good for FPS but you can forget on spotting targets visual without max zoom even from very short range.And if you use 4X AA or 8X like i do(i just cant fly without that), then you are realy toasted... :)
After all,we don't need to be real pilots to say that something is wrong with visibility in FC2.0,just go outside and watch...Some things just must be much more spot-able without much of concetration(represented like zoom in lockon), like convoys on clear road ,grouped units on clear field ect. I will not say anything for ships...
There is one sentence in my people, it goes like "...it is visible like from the airplane",unfortunately,that can't be used in lockon...